Imp

Pronunciation

• UK IPA: /ɪmp/
• Rhymes: -ɪmp

From Middle English impe, ympe, from Old English impa, impe ("an imp, scion, graft, shoot; young tree"), from Old English impian ("to imp, graft"), from Proto-Germanic *impōną, *impitōną ("to graft") (>

Old High German impfōn). Cognate with Danish ympe, German Impf, Swedish ymp.

Full definition of imp

Noun

1. (obsolete) A young shoot of a plant, tree etc. 9th–17th c.
• Sir Orfeo, 69:Þai sett hem doun al þre
  Vnder a fair ympe-tre.
2. (obsolete) A scion, offspring; a child. 15th–19th c.
• 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene I.3:And thou most dreaded impe of highest Ioue,
  Faire Venus sonne, ... come to mine ayde ....
• FairfaxThe tender imp was weaned.
3. A young or inferior devil; a malevolent supernatural creature, similar to a demon but smaller and less powerful. from 16th c.
• Beattieto mingle in the clamorous fray of squabbling imps
4. A mischievous child. from 17th c.
• 1908, Kenneth Grahame, I've left my young children to look after themselves, and a more mischievous and troublesome set of young imps doesn't exist...
5. (UK, dialect, obsolete) Something added to, or united with, another, to lengthen it out or repair it, such as an addition to a beehive; a feather inserted in a broken wing of a bird; or a length of twisted hair in a fishing line.

Synonyms

• (mischievous child) brat, urchin, little dickens

Related terms

• impish

Old English impian, apparently ultimately from a Latin source. Cognate with German impfen.

Verb

1. (obsolete) To plant or engraft.
2. (archaic) To graft, implant; to set or fix.
• 1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, IV.9:That headlesse tyrants tronke he reard from ground,
  And, having ympt the head to it agayne,
  Upon his usuall beast it firmely bound,
  And made it so to ride as it alive was found.
3. (falconry) To engraft feathers into a bird's wing."For, if I imp my wing on Thine" – Herbert (1633)
4. To eke out, strengthen, enlarge.

Anagrams

• MIP
• PIM
• PMI